Wang Rui had gone far.

Boatload after boatload of survivors had been settled into the buildings. Only a few empty boats were left drifting on the water.

Soon, some of the survivors who had already been assigned rooms came out through the stairwell, wading through the water to bring the small boats inside through the stairwell window.

They secured the boats on the steps now exposed above water, so they wouldn’t be blown away by strong winds during the night. When needed, they could simply push the boats out and use them again.

Lin Chu observed their actions and nodded to herself in approval.

Although the giant black fish from earlier that morning had given them a fright and scared off a few people, judging by the behavior of the remaining survivors, it was clear this Mayor Li had some skill.

At the very least, while each of the survivors had their own thoughts, none of them dared to go against his decisions.

That was a good thing for Lin Chu.

She had no desire to live next to a bunch of undisciplined and disorganized people.

After checking that all the windows in the house were locked, she pulled shut the already air-dried but filthy curtains, blocking any prying eyes.

Once everything was secure, she returned to her shelter.

It was lunchtime. Lin Chu pulled out a small folding table from her storage space and placed it in the center of the activity room, then laid a cushion on the ground.

Finally, she took out some leek and pork dumplings she had made in recent days and began to eat.

Over the past few days, she’d scavenged a lot of spoiled ingredients and was starting to feel her shelter was too small.

If only she had an extra kitchen.

That way, she could make use of all the ingredients while she was stuck indoors, turning them into all sorts of dishes for convenient future consumption.

Right now, she could only make smoke-free foods, and eating those for too long was bound to become dull. She was beginning to crave rich, greasy dishes again.

The food she’d exchanged for in the last world wasn’t all greasy and meaty—there were both meat and vegetarian options, even some vegan salads.

After all, what the system gave out depended entirely on its mood.

Instant noodles and self-heating rice meals had become regulars in Lin Chu’s diet lately.

Still, she missed the foods from her original world the most.

“System, will a kitchen function be unlocked with the next shelter upgrade?”

[Please work hard, Host. The upgrade will reveal the answer.]

“…Forget it,” Lin Chu muttered. She knew the system never gave a straight answer, so she didn’t bother to argue.

After finishing her meal, she cleaned up the trash, returned the table and cushion to her storage space, and went to help Xiao Er cook rice.

Xiao Er’s rice-cooking task was still ongoing.

But Lin Chu had switched from using water from a 12-ton barrel to using water from a 12-liter bottle.

She wanted to test whether the bottle could store other water as long as the last drop wasn’t used—so the system wouldn’t reclaim it.

After all, the system had said that once the water was used up, the bottle would be reclaimed.

But what if she didn’t use it up?

The 12-liter bottle was the same size as the blue mineral water jugs delivered to homes in her original world.

With multiple rice cookers running and her own daily water usage, by evening there was just a thin layer of water left in the bottle.

Xiao Er, following Lin Chu’s instructions, called her over as soon as the water was nearly gone. She was sorting out her thoughts in the room at the time.

Lin Chu checked the remaining amount, picked up a regular cup, and carefully poured water into the bottle—stopping just short of emptying it completely.

The bottle was still in her hands. The system hadn’t taken it.

So it seemed that as long as a single drop remained, the bottle wouldn’t be reclaimed.

Next, she moved on to the next step—refilling it.

Lin Chu carried the bottle to the bathroom, opened the cap, placed it under the tap, and turned it on.

Murky yellow water flowed from the tap into the bottle.

Holding the bottle, Lin Chu could clearly sense what was happening inside.

What had once held only a single drop of water was gradually filling up again.

Once the bottle was full—12 liters—she turned off the tap.

It was still in her hands. The system hadn’t taken it.

She set it on the ground. Put it in her storage.

No matter how she tried, the bottle remained intact.

Not a single drop of water disappeared.

A smile lit up Lin Chu’s face.

This was great—she could now reuse the reward bottle from the mud collection task, which meant she could store more water from the flooded world.

From her recent experiments, she had confirmed that the water from this world could accelerate plant growth.

For someone with limited access to fresh food, this was a godsend.

But she could only remain in the flooded world for another 19 days.

After that, she’d have no more access to this special water.

She’d almost been ready to grit her teeth and spend 150 points on a water tank.

But now, with reusable water bottles, she could save those 150 points for something else.

She could also expand her crop selection from short-term harvests to crops that could be harvested two to three times a year.

The only problem was that the front yard was too small to plant more crops for now.

Still, Lin Chu wasn’t worried.

She believed that as the shelter leveled up, the front yard would continue to expand.

When that time came, she’d have Xiao Er help her fill the garden with all her favorite vegetables and fruits.

Now that she had confirmed a bug in the system’s empty bottle recovery logic, Lin Chu started thinking of ways to collect more mud.

But she couldn’t make a big deal out of it.

She had no idea whether any of these survivors were also mission participants like her.

Granted, most mission participants would probably stay in their shelters instead of moving to the residential zone.

But there were bound to be some who had failed their shelter missions.

They would be forced to seek refuge at the hilltop base as ordinary survivors, trying to survive the 30-day mission period.

If she collected mud too conspicuously, she’d likely draw attention.

And since they were on similar missions, there was no telling what people might do for profit.

So how could she gather mud without attracting notice…?

Send Xiao Er?

Lin Chu quickly rejected the idea.

She didn’t even know if Xiao Er was waterproof. If it fell apart at the first splash, she’d be out of luck.

Even if she could rebuild it using the “trash-to-treasure” ability, Xiao Er had taken over a dozen failed attempts to create. The success rate was low, and her materials were running out—she couldn’t afford to gamble.

Her current lifestyle relied heavily on Xiao Er.

Unless she found a secure place, she couldn’t risk it.

As for now—she already knew one place with plenty of mud.

—The rooftop of this apartment building.